Anti-fracking campaigners deserve our gratitude, not a prison term

Commenting on the 15-month and 16-month jail sentences handed down to three anti-fracking protesters in Lancashire today, Greenpeace UK executive director John Sauven said:

“Peaceful protest is the safety-valve of a healthy democracy. It allows ordinary people to protect their health, families and homes from harm when all other safeguards have failed. It’s a strange society that massively rewards those responsible for causing more climate change while putting those trying to stop it in jail. Ministers have changed laws, taken away homeowners’ rights and distorted the planning process to make way for the shale industry, yet it’s four peaceful protesters that get punished for climbing on a lorry.

“As the world’s leading scientists are about to issue their latest warning on the existential threat fossil fuels pose to our living world, these Lancashire protesters deserve our gratitude, not a prison term. They have done what this government promised to do but is yet to deliver – making sure that we can leave our children and grandchildren a healthier environment than the one we found.”